Evangelion 2.0!!!

WARNING: Contains spoilers

This afternoon, I finally got to watch the movie I had been eagerly anticipating for a long time: Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance! When I learned from EVA news site Evageeks.org that the movie would be screening at selected Cathay cineplexes for a short while, I immediately placed catching the movie on the top of my things-to-do-when-I-get-home-from-Brisbane agenda. There's NO WAY I would miss watching a movie based on one of my favourite anime series. Furthermore, from the trailers, it looked extremely promising. Indeed, the movie was a box office hit in Japan and received many rave reviews. I wasn't disappointed when I finally got to see it. Heck, I was quite impressed!

Evangelion 2.0 continues where Evangelion 1.0 left off. 2.0 sees the return of some characters such as Asuka (known in this film as Asuka Langely Shikinami) and Kaji, to help NERV fight the angels. New girl Mari secretly arrives from the the NERV base in USA and hangs around in Tokyo 3. Meanwhile, Gendo, SEELE and Kaworu are involved in something rather secretive . As everyone tries to get used to each others' presence, the battle with the angels grows more intense and culminating in a devastating and violent clash.

Unlike 1.0's storyline, which is generally quite similar to the first 6 episodes of the original TV series, 2.0's storyline deviates greatly from the TV series. There are new scenes aplenty, new angels, battles and of course the new EVA pilot Mari Illustrious Makinami.

Mari, I must say, is quite an interesting watch. She's a quirky one: she likes the smell of LCL, sings to herself as she battles, is hyperactive, reckless and clearly enjoys beating the crap out of the angels. Unfortunately, she doesn't get as much screen time as the 3 main characters. She first appears at the beginning battling an Angel using her EVA Unit 05, is next seen somewhere in the middle having a short conversation with Shinji and at the end where she hijacks Unit 02 and attempts to defeat an angel.

2.0 has many new scenes included as well as scenes that were rewritten.Examples of new scenes include Kaji taking the kids to a marine preservation site, Gendo and Fuyutsuki's visit to the base at the moon and Shinji saving Rei from an angel that gobbled up her EVA. The scenes that were rewritten were a pleasant surprise. Take Asuka's return for instance. Unlike the TV series in which Asuka simply shows up at the battleship, Asuka returns in 2.0 with a bang: In her EVA 02, she falls from the sky from a plane, shoots at an angel and then proceeds to shatter its core with a kick. Then there is the inafamous elevator slapping scene involving Rei and Asuka. Only this time Rei actually stopped Asuka from slapping her, causing a surprised Asuka to murmur "For a doll, you're pretty cocky." Speaking of Rei, she's more human and shows more emotions in the film than in the TV series. For instance, she decides to invite everyone for a party so as to bring Shinji and Gendo closer. Her feelings for Shinji are also more obvious. I really like how Rei in 2.0 is more caring and tries to get over her social awkwardnes. Finally, most of the battles in this film are new. I must say, the battles in 2.0 are actually interesting. Usually, whenever it comes to battles, my mind 'switches off' a little as I find such scenes boring. I mean, battles are essentially one angry group clashing with another and exchanging bullets, laser beams and swear words. This time I was glued to the battles. Most notable is the one between Shinji's EVA 01 and the angel-infected EVA 03 with Asuka trapped inside. It was an emotional, intense and violent battle, made even more jarring by the cheerful song about friendship playing in the background. I cried.

The film ended on an intense note and Kaworu and his EVA's appearance in a deus ex machina fashion. After the movie ended, there was a brief trailer on the sequel, Evangelion Q Quickening, which offers a few glimpses of the surprises Anno (the director) has in store for fans such as an EVA Unit 08.

Overall, the film takes a rather different but interesting turn form the original series. It definitely lives up to its promise of being 'bigger and better' than 1.0. The only complaints I have is that a) certain scenes move at such a fast pace that it is a bit hard to tell what is going and b) Hikari, Kensuke and Toji get less screen time than in the TV series and are rather useless. Axing them from the story wouldn't have hurt it one bit. Also, while I enjoy this film greatly, I guess that to appreciate the movie it would help a great deal to have watched the original TV series and 1.0 before. Anno's target audience is therefore limited to anime fans and EVA fans. Then again, given that 2.0 turned out to be a box office hit, watching the film might pique the interest of those who have never seen the TV series and motivate them to watch it. More power to Anno and his team that way!

Above all, this is a film any EVA fan simply cannot miss. Heck, it's a film any anime fan shouldn't miss. CATCH IT WHILE YOU CAN!!!

For a detailed synopsis of 2.0, see here.

See here for the Anime News Network review of Evangelion 2.0

Image source: http://www.evastore.jp

Homecoming

Home, now that I'm coming home
Will you be the same as when I saw you last?
Tell me how much time has passed

Into Oblivion, by Funeral for a Friend

Queen Street, the main shopping district of Brisbane

Southbank, a tourist attraction within the city. That's the famous artificial beach behind me.

Southbank across the river

Johnny's birthday dinner at Riverside.


Amanda's birthday dinner at the UQ Union Pizza Cafe.

The dining hall.

The pretty purple flowers that herald spring (and the exam season).

The UQ lake. One of my favourite spots on campus. I always have my lunches there after Communication and Cultural Studies lecture on Tuesday.

My room:) It isn't obvious in the photo, but I've a whole lot of anime figurines on the bookshelf and the top of my closet.

My room after I finished chucking most of my stuff into the bunker of my residential hall and packed up the rest (and yes, I AM wearing pants in that photo. It's just too bloody short and my shirt is big).

Tomorrow, I leave Brisbane to return home to Singapore, where I'll spend my long-awaited summer holidays. I'll be back next semester of course, for another school term. Still, I've got that emo awww-I-can't-believe-I'm-leaving feeling. Maybe it's because I'm just being my sentimental self. Or maybe it's because some of my friends, who are exchange students, will be leaving for good and I'll probably never see them again.

It's been great studying here at UQ. I've grown up a lot during my time here. No surprise there, since I'm on my own in a foreign land. I've made quite a lot of friends too, of various nationalities. And of course, I enjoy the courses I take.

Well, till next year, UQ! I'm going home:)

A satirical take on the foreign talent issue

Government gives green light for the import of foreign talents to represent Singapore in beauty pageants

By Killerzephyr, SingaporeSatire correspondent

Following suggestions from some Singaporeans, the government has decided to import foreign talents to represent Singapore at international beauty pageants so as to improve the nation’s chances of winning.

Minister of Community, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan blamed the poor quality of local beauties for the country’s failure to clinch any awards. “One has obviously been reading too much Playboy, Hustler and Penthouse. The other can’t speak English to save her life and goes around saying boomz!” he complained, referring to scandal-hit Miss Singapore winners Rachel Kum and Ris Low respectively.

The Singapore mainstream media has applauded this latest move. “The foreign talent policy has clearly been a success. During the 2008 Olympics, our China-born imports Feng Tian Wei, Lee Jia Wei and Wang Yuegu brought glory to Singapore by winning the nation’s first silver Olympics medal in 48 years! If it works for sports, surely it will work for Miss World too! Remember, foreign talents are indispensible to Singapore! Singaporeans should be grateful to them!” said Straits Times Political Editor Chua Lee Hoong.

On the other hand, independent online news sites such as The Online Citizen and The Temasek Review have denounced the government’s decision as an absolute joke. “Outrageous! Just how far will this government go with their foreign talent programme?! If only we could import foreign talents to replace our inept, uncaring government and that government mouthpiece of a press!” wrote a Temasek Review correspondent. Bloggers have also called upon Singaporeans to remember this latest injustice, along with many others like the Mas Selamat boo-boo, when voting during the next election.

Immigration and the foreign talent policy have become thorny local issues. “In the past, only professionals who can contribute to Singapore’s growth are sought after by the government. Now any Tom, Gopal and Xiao Ming will do! These days everywhere I turn, I see an ah tiong (local derogatory term for Chinese nationals)!” ranted a housewife from Bishan. “They compete with locals for jobs and university vacancies. Even the hookers in Geylang and the rag-and-bone men are facing foreign competition too!” commented a student. “Citizens are already unhappy, yet the government continues giving out Singapore citizenships and permanent residencies like cheap candy to those so-called foreign talents!” fumed a Shenton Way executive. All three interviewees have firmly insisted on remaining anonymous.

Meanwhile, the government is trying to make room in Singapore for the bevy of beauties from Venezuela and Russia it has successfully wooed over to the country. It has also started a campaign to encourage Singaporeans to be warm and friendly towards the ladies as well as other foreign talents settling in Singapore. The mainstream media will play a major role in spearheading this latest campaign.

When asked about who else the government intends to woo over, Dr Balakrishnan said “With the elections coming up next year and Potong Pasir and Hougang wards still in opposition hands, perhaps we will rope in foreign talent to join PAP and contest those wards.”

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Not bad, I think, for a first attempt at satire. This satirical story is actually my story-telling assignment for my Journalism course. The idea of the storytelling assignment, according to my tutor, is to write a story or narrative that reflects what I think the role of journalism in society should be. I got inspiration from this article from The Temasek Review. I can't believe people would actually think of importing foreign talent to represent Singapore at international beauty pageants! The whole idea was just so dumb that I just had to make a spoof out of it. I ended up poking fun at several other issues as well, such as the nation's obsession with being the best, Singaporean's fear of speaking up and local politics.

Hope you had a good laugh!

Superstar

Yep, as you can see, people, I've changed my blogskin! I thought I'd give Zephy a makeover to mark the end of lessons and the start of SWAT back week (UQ's way of saying exam preparation week). Also, since the previous two blogskins were predominantly black, I thought I'd use a more bright and cheery one this time. And what better theme for the blogskin than the cool and funky kids of Gundam Seed Destiny?

The title of the blogskin is "Superstar", because I had Jamelia's highly upbeat "Superstar" song in mind as I was creating the picture. What I did was take a bunch of scans posted at Minitokyo by someone going by the moniker Gressini, crop them all into rectangular strips and arrange them as seen (in case you are wondering, yes, I did delibrately put Kira and Lacus, Lunamaria and Shinn as well as Cagalli and Athrun together. Because they are meant to be!). According to Gressini, these scans were from the Gundam Seed Destiny Special Collection. I'd pay good money for hard copies of those, I really love the art style! Go check out the full scans at Gressini's Minitokyo page (look under 'Credits') and see the characters in all their funky glory! Actually, I have not watched Gundam Seed Destiny yet, though I do know the gist of the entire story. I've only watched Gundam Seed, which totally blew my mind! Let's see, out of the 12 characters featured in the picture, I like the Meer one best (pink hair and star-shaped clip). Cagalli's my favourite character, actually, but I have to admit I really like Meer's expression and pose in the picture. In case you're wondering why Meer looks very similar to the girl on the extreme left (Lacus), it's because Meer is impersonating Lacus for political reasons.

I'd have had a theme song for this blogskin playing in the background (either Chu Bara or Superstar or Houki Boshi) but bloody My Flash Fetish is screwing on me and I can't get any music to play. Damn, nothing like some upbeat music to up the funk quotient some more.

So much for Superstar. In other news, lessons came to an end yesterday for us at UQ. It's now own time, own target for our exam preparations. I've decided that I will sit for my Political Ideas exam after all. The exam alternative sounded rather difficult to me. 2500words to 3000 words on my thoughts on the post-ideological age? Errrrr, I'll do the exam instead, thanks. Besides, the exam doesn't sound too hard. Basically, prior to the exam, the teachers will release 14 short answer questions, 7 of which will appear in the exam. All I have to do is reasearch and prepare my answers to all of them and hope the ones I have most confidence in appears. The International Relations exam works in a very similar manner. I'm completely done with Commuincations and Cultural Studies already, having submitted my last assignment (a reasearch essay on Evangelio fan culture) yesterday afternoon. As for Journalism, there's still one more minor essay to go.

I can't believe there's only about 3 more weeks to go before summer vacation commences. Time really does fly. It's quite amazing, how far I've come...



P.S Back to the topic of anime: A trailer for the Gundam 00 movie has been released! See this video.

GUNDAMS RAPHAEL, ZABANYA, HARUTE, & 00 QAN(T)!!! WOOTS!!!

When the purple flowers bloom

The trees along the streets are heavily adorned with bright purple blooms. Those pretty purple flowers herald two things: the arrival of spring, and the coming of the exam period.

The exam period at UQ begins next month, starting on the 7th of November and ending on the 21st. I've got at most 2 exams, one on the 12th of November and another on the 19th. I say "at most 2" because one of them is optional. I could either sit for that exam or opt to do a take-home essay. Pretty cool huh?

Meanwhile, we at UQ are all busy with our assignments. That's why I haven't been updating frequently these days, because I've been busy working on some major assignments. Last Friday, I submitted my International Relations major essay. Tomorrow, I've got to hand in my Political Ideas major essay by 3pm. Once I'm done with that, I've got to start on my Communications and Cultural Studies research essay, which is due at the end of the month. At the same time, I've got to make sure I contribute to both the Journalism blog and the Communications and Cultural Studies one. Oh, and there's that story-telling assignment for Journalism which I have been neglecting for some time.

*Bangs head on the desk and bawls*

There's just sooo much to do and not much time! (What the hell am I doing here at Zephy's anyway?) So, from now until the end of the exam period, I will be updating this blog less frequently. Once a forthnight, I guess. Don't miss me too much, heh!

Actually, the situation I'm in now isn't so bad. I quite enjoyed the assignments I've been doing, especially my Political Ideas essay, which is on the relevance of Marxism to the modern world. I also look forward to starting on my Communications and Cultural Studies research essay which will be based on Evangelion! I don't remember enjoying the assignments I did in primary school, sceondary school or junior college this much. Marx would've said that I was alienated from my work back then. I'd love to blog more about the things I've learnt in school, but for now, I gotta sign off and get started on work. Till next time!

Holiday? What friggin' holiday?!

I'm currently having a one-week holiday that is coming to an end way too soon. Actually, 'holiday' isn't quite appropriate. More like, a week-without-lessons-but-there's-still-a-whole-lot-of-work-to-keep-you-occupied-thanks-to-sadistic-teachers. Quite like the school holidays in Singapore, except that instead of spending most of our time mugging for exams, we in UQ work on assignments or projects instead. So, honestly, WHAT holiday are we talking about here? Just look at the things I've got to do:

1. Major essay for Political Ideas course


2. Major essay for International Relations course


3. Mini theory-based essay for Journalism course.


4. Post entires at the Journalism blog


5. Communications and Cultural Studies Research essay

Some of these (number 4 and 5) are not due anytime soon actually, but it's better to start on them early than to procrastinate. As for numbers 1, 2 and 3, they are due either next week or the week after next, so I've been spending more time and effort on these. After I submit my assignments I swear I don't want to see anything to do with Marxism, Feminist International Relations Theory or Political Economy Mass Communication Theories for a long time.

But, this week being a holiday (even if it's a pseudo-holiday), I did allow myself some slacking time. Last Saturday and Sunday I did some sightseeing of my own within Brisbane. I popped in at Toowong (a nearby suburb) as well as the Central Business District and South Bank (a tourist attraction, with a man-made beach overlooking the city, among other things). This Sunday I plan to go out again, one more time before the daily grind resumes next week. I haven't decided where though.

Oh, and did I mention that I'm currently watching Gundam Seed? Nothing like some anime therapy to prevent you from going crazy over work. In fact, this holiday, I'm usually either doing my work or watching Gundam Seed. I've finished over 3/4 of it so far and am loving it! It's hard to say whether I like Gundam Seed or Gundam 00 better, but what I do know is that Gundam Seed has been one of my favourite animes. TOTEMO SUKI DESU!!! Forget the latest season of Gossip Girls, people, WATCH GUNDAM SEED!!!

Ok, I shall go off to catch 2 more episodes of Gundam Seed before I go to sleep. Bye for now!

P.S And since no blog post that touches on anime is complete without a picture, here's some Gundam Seed eyecandy:

Kawaii desu ne? The 4 main protagonists of Gundam Seed:) Cagalli and Athrun are my favs!

Image source:

www.animepaper.net

My Purest Heart for You IX

I can still see your face,

I can still hear your voice,

I can still taste your kiss,

I can still smell your scent,

I can still feel your caress,

I can still remember you

As though we parted

only yesterday.

Happy first year anniversary!

Image source: www.advancedanime.com